A mobile application associated with the Pakistani terrorist organization Jaish-e-Mohammad has been removed from the Google Play Store following a disclosure by India Today TV. The app called “Achi Bateen” was disguised as a platform to promote Islamic teachings.
It had over 5,000 downloads from Android users. The app hosted the sermons of several Pakistan-based religious leaders. Previously, India Today had uncovered the hidden links its developers with the terrorist group designated by the United Nations.
From the outside, the mobile application showed no open association with the Jaish. However, the developers of the mobile application hosted two links on their site that contained soft copies of several books written by JeM boss Maulana Masood Azhar.
The second link on the developer page also contained voice recordings of Masood Azhar, his brother Abdul Rauf Asghar and his close colleague Talha Saif.
Asghar, the suspected mastermind behind the hijacking of Indian Airlines flight 814 and the terrorist attack on Pathankot, is believed to be the team’s operational leader.
The page also contained old letters that Masood Azhar had written under the pseudonym “Saadi”, a pseudo-identity that was well established with the JeM boss. Masood Azhar’s close associate, Talha Saif, often reads his weekly reports and distributes the audio recordings to his followers.
Delhi-based digital laboratory Innefu Labs, which was performing a technical analysis of the app for India Today, found certain anomalies in the functionality of the app. The application is connected to servers in the Contabo data center located outside of Germany.
“The app asked for permissions that differ from its functionality. This often happens when you want to add more functionality to the app without asking users for further permission, ”said Tarun Wig, co-founder of Innefu Lab.
According to Wig, the behavior was similar to the Chinese UC browser application, which is already banned in India.
The app accessed the network and GPS (Global Positioning System) locations of the users. It could start automatically as soon as the mobile device boots and can run continuously in the background.
It also had access to the phone’s approximate and accurate location, network, storage, media, and other files.
Jaish-e-Mohammad has been sanctioned by the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) since 2001. The terrorist group has also been identified as a Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO) by the US State Department.
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